


Infidelity

by BabyKay47



Category: The Mindy Project
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-08
Updated: 2015-04-02
Packaged: 2018-02-16 15:36:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 17,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2275167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabyKay47/pseuds/BabyKay47
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny/Mindy AU of 28 Hotel Rooms</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Room 347

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the anonymous poster on Tumblr who asked Bethofbells to write a 28 Hotel Rooms AU with Mindy and Danny. I'm sure she could have written it better, but after seeing the movie I felt inspired and thought I'd give it a shot.

She is sitting at the hotel bar when he walks up to her. She’s immediately struck by his handsome good looks, and he confident way he leans against the counter.

“You’re Dr. Peerson, aren’t you?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“I saw your presentation on your laparoscopic hysterectomy technique. I thought it was brilliant.”

“Thank you.”

“By the way, I’m Danny. Dr. Danny Castellano.”

“Nice to meet you, Danny. Please call me Mindy.”

“Can I buy you a drink, Mindy?”

She glances down at his left hand. “You’re married.”

Danny shrugs. “So are you.”

“So you just want to buy me a drink. That’s it?”

“That’s it. Why? Do you want it to be something else?” He grins.

She shakes her head.

Three drinks later, he’s inviting her to his hotel room for a nightcap. She knows she should say no and head back to her own room, but she doesn’t. She’s feeling a bit buzzed from the drinks, and he’s looking at her like he knows what she looks like without her clothes and he wants to devour her. She finds that look even more intoxicating than the drinks.

As soon as the door closes behind them, he has her pressed up against it, and he’s kissing her deeply. He grinds his pelvis up against hers, and she can feel the heat of his erection through all the layers of clothes they’re wearing, and it’s not enough. She wants skin on skin contact. She reaches for the fastener on his pants and quickly has them undone. He has reached under her skirt and pulled down her panties. He caresses her with his thumbs as he slides them down her thighs, down past her knees, and then they drop to her feet. She kicks out of them, and steps out of her shoes so that she doesn’t have to worry about falling over them, and then he’s spreading her legs even further apart. She thinks he will just enter her, but then he’s touching her down there with his hands. She’s so wet that his fingers just slip in, first to the knuckle, and then just a little bit deeper. He strokes her steadily from the inside and occasionally touches her nub, sending sparks of electricity from her groin to her breasts. He keeps it up until she lets out a keening wail and contracts around his fingers, and then slowly withdraws with a wet suck. He brings his fingers to his lips and then licks them with a moan. “You taste good,” he tells her, and she feels an embarrassed flush heat her skin. She is glad he cannot see it. Then he grabs her leg. “Lift it up, and wrap it around me,” he tells her, and she complies. She feels him guide his penis towards her entrance, and then he is pressing himself inside her, pressing her against the door, and he lifts her up by her ass, so he can have deeper access. The door is hard against her back, and she is basically pinned to it, as he hammers into her, but it is an exquisite kind of pain that is completely overwhelmed by the pleasure she feels to have him inside her, to have him sucking on an ear, and nuzzling her neck, and panting her name over and over. She is nearing the edge once again when his thrusts become more urgent. “I’m gonna come! I’m gonna come! Do you want me to come in you?”

_Shit!_ She forgot about protection. Her hesitation seems to make his decision for him, so he pulls out abruptly, and comes all over his own hand and stomach. He’s so fast that Mindy loses balance, and almost falls over, but he catches her, and they both crumble to the floor.

“Sorry about that,” he apologizes. “I usually use a condom, but I guess I got a bit carried away.” Then he undoes his loose tie and starts to wipe away the wetness between her legs, and cleans himself up a bit.

“It’s okay. I’m on the pill.”

“Really? Does that mean I can come inside you next time?” He grins at her, and she quirks an eyebrow.

“Next time? Guess what, buddy, this is a one time thing. And you’re a doctor for Christ’s sake! You should know that pulling out isn’t a really effective method of birth control. Not to mention, it does nothing to prevent STDs.”

“It hasn’t failed me yet.”

“Not that you know of.” Mindy moaned, and buried her head in her hands. “Oh, god! I’m going to have to get tested. You could have anything!”

“You don’t need to worry. I’ve been in a monogamous relationship…until now. And I had to get tested recently after I was accidently exposed to a biohazard, so I’m clean. I have records if you want to see them.”

She opened her hands to look up at him. He seemed honest enough, despite the fact that he had just cheated on his wife with her. She shook her head. “No, that’s okay. That’s not necessary.” Then she gets to work trying to rearrange her clothing. Her hand reaches out for her underwear, but she can’t find it, so he reaches over behind her and grabs her panties, then hands them to her. She stands up, then slips them back on, and pulls down her skirt and tries to smooth out some of the wrinkles in her shirt. She combs a hand through her hair, and hopes it doesn’t look like she’s been thoroughly fucked. She’s sure the walk of shame back to her hotel room will be bad enough with her panties soaking with her come. “I think I should get going,” she says, and he politely gets up to see her out of the room. He opens the door he just fucked her up against, and she sneaks by him awkwardly.

“See you around, I guess.” He smiles, but it doesn’t go to his eyes, and Mindy feels a stab of regret go through her that she’ll probably never see him again, but she knows without a doubt that this cannot ever happen again.

* * *

She gets tested, and is relieved when everything comes back negative. She is relieved her husband never said anything when she insisted on using condoms. And she feels guilty every time she looks at his handsome face. But she can’t help but wonder if Danny will be at the next medical conference. She tells herself she doesn’t want to see him, that she should ask Jeremy or Peter to go in her stead, but as soon as the details are out, she’s booking another hotel room.


	2. Room 1029

She’s in his bed, and she can’t believe it. They hadn’t exchanged business cards or phone numbers the last time, but when she arrived at the conference, there he was. He had smiled at her, that over confident smile, and this time even though he still hadn’t see her naked, he knew what it felt like to be inside her, and she felt her insides heat up just at the thought. He bought her dinner this time, room service, and then he’d made love to her thoroughly on the bed.

“Where are you from again?” he asks her, lazily rubbing a thumb over her nipple. It stands hard and pert, and she shivers with the sensation.

“L.A. And you’re from New York, right?”

“Yeah, couldn’t you tell by my accent?” he asks, making it thicker for her benefit.

“I wasn’t sure if it was a New York or Boston accident. They all sound the same to me.” She smiles.

“Those are fighting words!” He bites down gently on her breast, leaving a slight teeth imprint. She moans with the pleasure pain of it, and then he pulls the nipple into his soft mouth, to suckle it, almost like a babe.

Later, it’s as if a dam has broken and they are full of questions for each other. She doesn’t know why she answers him. She thinks they should keep this as anonymous and distant as possible, but once he starts, she just wants to know more and more.

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” he asks.

“Yeah, eight sisters. And I’m the youngest.”

He smiles. “Oh, really? Eight?” he asks skeptically.

“Yup.”

“What are their names?”

“Calliope, Clio, Eu—”

“Wait…aren’t those the names of the muses?”

Mindy looks like a deer caught in headlights, and Danny starts to laugh. “Okay. I see what you’re playing at.”

Mindy smiles tentatively, and then asks, “Are your parents still together?”

“No.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. It was a long time ago. Are you a Democrat or a Republican?”

“Would you think terribly of me, if I told you I’ve never registered to vote?”

“You’ve never voted?”

She shakes her head. “But I would have voted for Obama.”

“I didn’t really want to vote for him, but he was the lesser of two evils.”

“Why not?”

“I wanted Hillary Clinton to run.”

“Wow! Do you know how hot that makes me? You’re probably more of a feminist than I am.”

Danny shakes his head and laugh. “Your turn.”

“Have you ever seen Sex and the City?”

“Yeah, once. There are four ladies, and they’re walking down the street. I even think I saw them filming once.”

“You saw them filming!” Mindy shouts excitedly. “Do you remember what they were wearing?”

“What? No! I don’t remember what they were wearing.”

Mindy pouts. “Wow. I am disappoint. Your turn.”

“Okay. Vanilla or Chocolate?”

“Chocolate. That was a boring question—”

“Boring?” He laughs. “I didn’t realize it was a contest to see who could come up with the most interesting questions.”

“Yeah, it is. Like this: would you rather be eaten by a shark or die in an earthquake?”

“Eaten by a shark. Based on your wording, it might be possible to survive the shark attack, but in the earthquake you’re dead.” He slaps his hand on her ass. “Flattened like a pancake.”

“So you’d rather go around with one leg, plagued with post traumatic memories of the time a shark gnawed on your limbs?”

“I’d be alive, wouldn’t I?”

Mindy shakes her head. “Not for me. As soon as the walls started shaking, I’d pray for a swift death.”

“That’s morbid.”

“Okay. Think of something really interesting!”

“Hmm…I’m thinking.” She can literally see the gears turning around in his head.

“Come on! It can’t be that hard,” she teases him. Then she teases him with her mouth, making a trail of kisses across his collarbone to his chest, and then down to his stomach. When she reaches his happy trail, she is delighted to find his cock is semi-erect, and just waiting to be kissed. “Maybe it is,” she says pressing a kiss to the very tip.

“Do you want me to ask you a question, or not? Because you’re very distracting.”

Mindy pulls away. “No, no, I want to hear your brilliant question. Ask me.”

“Would you rather have a superpower where you could fly—” She bursts out laughing. “Hey, you haven’t even let me finish the question!” He spanks her, and she gasps with indignation. “Or would you rather be able to turn me into a buffalo?”

“A buffalo, huh?” Her eyes light up mischievously. “I bet a buffalo has a huge dong, much bigger than this flaccid thing here.” She gently pats his rapidly hardening penis.

Danny’s eyes widen with surprise. “Are you trying to tell me that you’d rather turn me into a buffalo than have the gift of flight, so that I could fuck you with a bigger penis? That’s—that’s—bestiality!” he exclaims scandalized.

Mindy rolls her eyes and then laughs. “I was being facetious. Of course, I wouldn’t fuck a buffalo—Now a buffalo-sized penis, that’s another story…” Danny laughs out loud at this, and then rolls her over, and pins her to the bed with his arms, and his cock is fully hard and throbbing to be inside her again.

“Am I really not big enough for you, sweetheart?” He slowly pushes himself inside her, until he’s buried to the hilt, and she feels completely filled up with him.

She shakes her head causing her dark hair to spill across the pillow and smiles up at him. “I was lying before. You are just the right size.”

“Is there anything you’ve told me tonight that is truthful?” he asks, withdrawing just a little bit, and circling his hips so that the base of him rubs delightfully against her clit. She moans.

“I guess you’ll never know.” She gasps when he withdraws some more and then slides back in, starting a deeply satisfying rhythm that has her body on fire. She continues, whispering in his ear, “I kind of like that we can be whoever we want to be here. I can pretend that I’m not married, and you are a hot date I picked up at a bar. And then we merrily go our separate ways in the morning. It’s simple and it’s fun.”

“Yeah, me too,” he rasps into her ear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think!


	3. Room 581

They are cuddling in bed. Surprisingly, he hadn’t jumped her bones the second she got to the room. He just seemed to want to hold her, and even more surprisingly, talk to her. So she opens up to him, and tells him the truth this time.

“Casey was—is my first love. We were so young when we got married. He’s a Christian so he insisted that we get married before we made love, and I just couldn’t believe that someone so handsome, and tall, and kind wanted to be with me, so I agreed. I converted to Christianity for him, and then we were married. We were so poor, too. We were both college students at the time—that’s how we met. And so I learned how to share a very small cramped apartment with him, and do without a lot of the luxuries—like having my own bathroom, and my own closet—I’d had when I was living with my parents. But then when I joined my practice and I started making more money, I figured I’d earned my Jimmy Choo’s, so I went out and bought them. And I bought a lot of stuff that I wanted for me. Does that make me selfish?”

“I don’t think so.” Danny shook his head. “In fact I love your Jimmy Choo’s and your Manolo Blahnik’s and everything else you wear. You are so damn sexy to me.”

“Casey thinks I’m being selfish. He says the money that I spend on shoes could be sent to Africa, or some third world country. And I know he’s right, but I can’t help it. I did my time. You know, we went on a mission trip together. It was right before I started at the practice. We went to Haiti and I helped build a hospital and Casey gave out food and bibles.”

“That’s a truly selfless thing you did. I think you’re very kind.”

“I don’t feel kind. I feel horrible. Like I’m living a lie. I shouldn’t even be here. But I keep indulging myself with you, like I’m on a fucking shopping spree.”

“Are you saying I give you the same high you get from shopping?”

“Yes!” Then she busts out laughing at the absurdity of it, and he laughs with her. “In fact, you are better than shopping!”

“Wow! That’s a huge compliment coming from you! What is it about me that keeps you coming back? Is it the penis?”

“That’s right! You know you’ve got a great penis. And you know what to do with it, too. Sex with you is just so… _exciting,_ you know?”

“Are you sure you’re not just experimenting? I mean you said Casey is the only other man you’ve ever been with.”

“I guess there is a part of me that wonders what it would be like to be with other men…”

“Yeah? Who else do you think about?”

“You don’t really want to know that, do you?”

“Yeah, I kinda do. It’s making me hot thinking about you with another man.”

“Umm, okay. That’s weird.”

“No, no, no! Don’t get me wrong. I don’t actually want to share you with anyone, least of all your husband. But obviously thinking about other men turns you on, and whatever turns you on, turns me on.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really. So tell me. Who else do you think about?”

Mindy lets out a deep breath, and then smiles wistfully. “Okay. I’ll tell you.”

Danny nods encouragingly. “Go on.”

“There’s this guy I work with. Jeremy. He’s tall, dark, and handsome. And he has a British accent, which I think is totally sexy. He’s a total manwhore, though. But I can’t help but wonder what it would be like to sleep with him.”

“What do you think it would be like?”

“Amazing!” She lets out a breathy sigh.

“So let’s say you’re having a sexy dream about him. What happens?”

“Oh my god, this is so embarrassing! You want me to tell you about my sex dreams?”

“Yeah. I want to know everything about you.” The way he’s looking at her, like he can see into her soul, is incredibly intimate, and she can’t help but want to bare her soul to him. So she tells him.

“Ok. We’re at the office. All day he’s been giving me these smiles, these come hither looks, and then I get an email from him, asking me if I can come into his office for a consultation. I go, but as soon as he closes the door he leans down and kisses me.”

Danny takes the opportunity to kiss her slowly and lingeringly. His hands are on her face, and his thumb is stroking her cheek, as his tongue gently prods her mouth open so he can sweep in and caress her tongue with his own. Then he pulls back. “Do you mean like that?”

Mindy nods, unable to speak.

He kisses her again, lightly this time. Just a peck on the lips. “And then what happens?”

“He undresses me. First my shirt, then my skirt.” Danny begins to unbutton her blouse. He pops it open slowly and meticulously, and kisses the tops of her breasts where they are exposed by her bra. Her breath hitches as his knuckles graze her stomach when he gets to the bottom of her shirt, and she lifts up from the bed so that he can push the sleeves down her arms, and then pull the whole thing off her. She isn’t wearing a skirt, but jeans, so he undoes the top button, and then unzips her. She lifts her hips so that he can tug her jeans off, and he pulls them all the way down to her feet, but then pulls them off from the bottom so that they don’t get turned inside out. Once they are off, he throws them onto the armchair near the foot of the bed. He grins at her appreciatively. She’s wearing a matching black silk bra and panty set, and she can tell by his heavy-lidded gaze that he likes it.

He grins. “What next?”

By this time Mindy has forgotten about Jeremy. She can only see Danny. But telling him about her fantasy is kind of making her hot, so she continues. “He, umm…he pushes me towards the desk, and sits me down on top of it. Then he pulls me towards the edge of the desk, and spreads my legs.”

Danny gets up then grabs her by the ankles and pulls her down to the edge of the bed. She sits up so she can look down at him. He gets down on his knees in front of her, then pushes her knees apart with his hands. Grinning up at her he says, “I think I can figure out what comes next.” Then he dives in, nuzzling her through the thin silk, and moaning at the scent of her. She feels his tongue licking at her creases, making the already damp fabric completely soggy. Then she feels a finger tracing the edge of her panties up and down, causing her skin to tingle wherever he touches it. His other hand is skimming the tops of her breasts and feeling her nipples through her bra. She grabs his head and gently directs him toward her center, tired of his teasing. He chuckles lightly into her cunt and it tickles her in the most delightful way. Then he pulls her panties to the side and slowly inserts his middle finger inside her, and curls it upward so that he is touching the sensitive tissue. It sends jolts of electricity rushing through her and she bucks up against him. He masturbates her with a quick and stead rhythm with his finger, and laps at her pussy with his mouth. She can feel all the blood pounding into her vagina, and she is gasping loudly for air. He laps at her leisurely, as if she were an ice cream cone on a warm day, and she is dripping all over his face and hand. He keeps his finger rubbing into her at a steady pace, just enough for her orgasm to build, but not to take her over the edge. It’s torture, but every moment is exquisite. She feels like a taut string on a violin, and he’s plucking at her and making the most beautiful music.

“Oh, God, Danny! I want to come! Make me come. Please make me come!” she moans. And he obliges by increasing the tempo of his finger, and when he gently caresses her clit with his tongue, all of her muscles contract, and then suddenly she is shaking and quivering underneath his mouth. She falls flat on her back against the bed gasping his name, and when she opens her eyes, he is grinning at her looking quite pleased with himself.

“I thought you were fantasizing about Jeremy.”

“You made me forget him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All of your comments and kudos mean so much to me...so please keep them coming!


	4. Room 1539

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Mindy Project comes back tonight! Yay! So here's a little update to tide you over for the next few hours.

She meets him in the swanky rooftop bar of the hotel that he had made a reservation for them to stay at. At first she thought he had wanted to role play that they were strangers meeting for the first time, but then he had texted her to say that he had some exciting news to share with her, and wanted her to meet him there.

“Welcome to New York!” he exclaims when she comes up to him. His smile is a mile wide, and he’s already got a bottle of champagne open.

“What are we celebrating?” she asks, surprised at his enthusiasm, but pleased nonetheless.

“I have been given a grant to do research on apical prolapse repair!”

“That’s fantastic news!” she says, kissing him. “You told me you have been working really hard on your proposal. I’m really happy for you.”

“I couldn’t have done it without your help.”

“My help? All I did was listen to your idea—”

“Not just that, but you also helped me focus on what it was I really wanted to do, and you asked me insightful questions that really made me think about what I was trying to figure out. So thank you.”

Mindy feels pleased that he appreciated her input, but she also knew that he would have done just as well without her. “Well, I knew you could do it, and I’m so proud of you. Let’s make a toast.” She raises her glass, and he does the same. “Here’s to apical prolapse repair.”

“Cheers.” They clink glasses and then down their drinks. Danny fills them up again. “We are going to celebrate. Let’s go to the Rainbow Room and get drunk and dance.”

“That’s crazy.”

“Then I’ll take you to the top of the Empire State Building and we can pretend I’m Tom Hanks and you’re Meg Ryan from that movie you like so much.”

“We can’t do that. What if we get recognized?”

“We won’t get recognized. New York is a big city. The chances of us meeting someone we know are slim.”

“But I’ve networked with a lot of the doctors who work around here, and you live here. Somebody might see.”

“Then let’s go somewhere else. Let’s hop on a plane to Miami. We could sit out on the beach and I’ll pour coconut oil on your body and rub it in.”

“We cannot go to Miami.” She smiles to soften the blow. “Hey, I have a better idea.”

“What’s that?”

“Just follow me. I think you’re really going to like it.”

She gets up, and he starts to get up too, but she pushes him back down. “Give me two minutes, and then follow me to my room,” she whispers in his ear.

His eyes watch her as she leaves the bar, and he counts slowly to sixty in his head, but then he gets impatient and decides to just follow her. He downs the rest of his drink, and then strides swiftly to the elevators, and she’s standing there waiting for one to go up. He walks over to her and reaches for her hand, but she shakes her head almost imperceptibly and he drops his hand to his side. When the elevator door rings he’s relieved to see that it is empty and follows her on. As soon as the doors close behind them, he steps into her personal space and leans down to kiss her. She wraps her arms around him and curves into his kiss, and her mouth is hot and wet, giving easy access to his invading tongue. He presses her into the wall, and let his hands wander down her body, grazing a breast, and then lower to cup her ass and squeeze her as tightly to him as he can. But when the elevator dings to let them know they are stopping on another floor, she quickly pushes him away, and covers her mouth with her hand to hide the smudges of her lipstick. She glares at him to try to get him to look presentable, but he merely smirks at her. Luckily, the person who gets on doesn’t even pay them any attention, but is focused on something on his phone, headset blocking him from hearing anything other than his music.

They stop on another floor to let on an older couple. They are dressed to the nines and Mindy imagines that they are on the way to the opera or something else really expensive and cultured, and Mindy feels a pang of jealousy that they are able to be so open with their relationship, and feels a bit upset with herself that she is too afraid of the consequences to ever do that with Danny. But then they reach their floor, and Mindy gets off first and Danny follows her.

She looks around and when she sees that the hallway is empty she gives into the urge and offers her hand to him. He smiles and takes it and they walk down to their hotel room hand in hand.

When she opens the door, he lets her go in first, and she goes to the minibar and pours him a stiff drink. She hands it to him and then pushes him down onto the bed. She settles down on her knees between his legs and reaches for his belt buckle and aggressively undoes it. “Okay, Dr. Castellano. You’ve worked really hard, and for that I want to reward you with the best night of sex you’ve ever had.”

Danny tosses back his drink and groans loudly when she wraps her hand around his hardening penis.

“Do you like that, Danny? Do you like me down on my knees getting ready to suck you off?”

“Yeah, I like that a lot, baby. I can’t wait for you to wrap those luscious lips around my cock.”

She strokes him up and down gently, but firmly, and runs her thumb over the tip of his head and finds that his penis is already leaking pre-cum. She grabs his ass with both her hands, and then leans forward to lick it, and it causes him to shudder. Then she takes the tip of his head into her mouth and sucks, running her tongue along his slit. She swirls her tongue around the head for a good minute, then she goes deeper, pressing her tongue flat along the underside of his shaft, gently scraping her teeth against him. She loves the way he reacts, his ass clenching underneath her hands, and how his hands immediately go to her hair, but he doesn’t pull or tug her, to try to make her go deeper. Then she releases his cock with a juicy pop, and dives down to run her tongue up from the base to the tip.

“Oh, god, Min,” he moans, when she takes him into her mouth again. “Your mouth feels so fucking good.” She had her eyes closed, but when he speaks, she opens them to look up at him; his head is thrown back, and he’s biting his bottom lip, as if he is trying to hold back, to keep from coming fast and hard. She doesn’t want him to.

She moans, and the sound or the vibration against his shaft causes him to look down at her, and she captures his gaze. Their eyes lock and his eyes are completely dilated with passion and arousal. His eyes widen almost imperceptibly with surprise when she pulls him in deeper taking him all the way to the back of her throat. His hips shift almost involuntarily, and she looks up at him inviting him with her eyes to fuck her mouth. “Hnnng…” he cries out, “I wanna fuck your mouth. Is that okay, baby?”

With him still thoroughly lodged in her throat she nods her head, and with a groan of satisfaction he begins to buck his hips, gently at first, and then more urgently as his orgasm builds. His hands are still in her hair and he is tugging on it lightly, and she doesn’t mind. She shifts one of her hands from his ass and moves it across his hip, then over the trail of pubic hair from his belly button down to his thighs and down to his balls. She can feel them tightening and pulsing in her hand. She increases the suction with her mouth, and moans encouragingly. And then suddenly he shouts, “I’m gonna come!” and she pulls away a little bit so that his come coats her tongue, and when he’s finished squirting, she sticks out her tongue, says “ahh,” so that he can see all his creamy goodness, and then swallows licking her lips. He looks stunned and drained, and she feels very satisfied.


	5. Room 3264

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delay! Hopefully now that most of my shows are on winter hiatus, I can spend my free time writing, rather than playing catch-up with all the new episodes. And special thanks to alittlenutjob for the rec on tumblr.

Danny is late and Mindy has been drinking. When he finally comes through the door, Mindy throws her phone at him.

“What the hell, Min. What is your problem?”

“Why is it so hard for you to send a text? All you have to do is look at your phone every once in a while, and type a few words. All you really need to use are your thumbs. You’re a surgeon for fucks sake, it can’t be that difficult.”

“You know I don’t like using those things out of principle. If you’ve got something important to say just call me. Leave a message and I’ll get back to you when I can. If I don’t call you back it’s because I haven’t had time.”

“Texting is easier! It doesn’t matter if you have time or not, I can send you a message when it’s convenient for me, and you can look at it when it’s convenient for you! But it requires a response!”

“You know I don’t know how to check my messages!” He takes out his phone to show her, and there are 458 messages and about 30 notifications for different apps that he hasn’t checked.

“You are worse than my mother! Are you really only 38, Dan, ‘cause you act like you’re 83 sometimes.”

“Why are you so pissed? I’m here, aren’t I? What more do you want from me?”

“It would just be nice if the man that I’m cheating on my husband with bothered to communicate with me sometimes outside of setting up dates to hook up. I’d like to imagine that you were interested in me for more than just my rocking hot body.”

“Of course I’m interested in you beyond the sex! I just don’t understand why you have to tell me and the whole world about what you’re wearing and what you ate and what celebrities twatted you.”

“It’s ‘tweeted,’ and I do it because I like all the attention.”

“Don’t get me started on all of the attention-whoring these social networks create. Why does anyone need to post every time they eat something, or see a cat? And you have to stop with the hashbags. You’re even starting to say it when you’re speaking!”

“It’s ‘hash _tag_!’ And it’s an important way of captioning pics. Hashtag-get-with-the-program!”

“You just did it again!”

“Hashtag-I-can’t-help-it!”

“Well, you’ve got my attention! I’m here. With you. And we can do whatever you want.”

“I just want to be with you, even when I’m not with you. You know I constantly check my phone, not just to see if I’ve got any notifications from Facebook, but because I love getting texts from you. Seeing your name in my mailbox just brightens my day, and I wish it were more than once in a month, or two months if you’re busy.”

“I like getting texts from you, too.”

“Really? Then why don’t you ever respond to them?”

“Sometimes I just get a quick minute in between rounds, and I glance at my phone, and I like it when I see your messages. But I honestly don’t have time to text back. I’ve got more important things to do, like squats.” Mindy throws a pillow at him. “Ow! I mean to text you back, but I always forget.”

“You know, you could save yourself a lot of abuse if you just texted.”

“Okay, okay. You’re right. I will try to text you more.”

Mindy’s smile is incandescent. “Now all you have to do is apologize, and all will be forgiven.”

“Apologize? But I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Danny!” She starts to pummel him, and he tries to grab her hands to stop her, but she’s too quick and gets him good in the face. She stills immediately when she makes the connection, shocked at how quickly her anger had turned violent, and in her stillness he grabs her hands and forces them down to her sides so that she can no longer use them to hit him. His face is clouded with surprise and anger, but even though she feels a bit ashamed that she slapped him, she is not afraid.

“You want me to apologize to you?” he grits through his teeth. “How about you apologize to me for hitting me?!”

Mindy raises her chin defiantly. “Make me,” she taunts.

“Maybe I will,” he responds, his eyes boring into hers, and he feels it, that instantaneous want and need that he always feels whenever he’s around her. He presses her arms closer together behind her, so that it simultaneously pushes her chest up higher and closer to him. She seemingly resists, and squirms against him, and his cock begins to harden immediately. Then he suddenly lets go of her arms and seizes her head in his hands and brings his mouth down on top of hers for a rough kiss. She opens her mouth eagerly, inviting his hot tongue into her mouth and sucking gently, before pulling away and biting his lower lip, not hard enough to draw blood, but enough to make him wince.

“I still want an apology,” she demands.

He runs his finger across his swollen lower lip and shakes his head. “Not going to happen.”

“Oh, yeah?” she asks, dropping her hand to his crotch and caressing him through his jeans. He is as hard as a rock, his cock is straining for release, but she makes no attempts to free his manhood from its denim prison. When she grabs him roughly and tugs gently, he lets out a loud groan, and returns the favor by going for her round ass. He puts both hands on her buttocks and squeezes her until she is pressed firmly against him.

“God, I love your ass,” he tells her as he massages it breathing deeply into her neck.

“I love your cock,” Mindy moans as she delves for his belt buckle and zipper. In an instant he is free, but she still has on her panties, so he releases an ass cheek to go for her panties, which he quickly finds under her skirt and roughly rips from her.

She is stroking him feverishly, and he has one hand on her ass while the other one sneaks its way under her skirt and to her wet opening. She is so hot and slick that his finger easily slips inside and is joined by a second that hooks into her and touches her special spot that drives her crazy.

“Oh, god, Danny! I want you to fuck me! Fuck me now!”

“I want you so bad. Turn over,” he demands, and watches her as she gets on her hands and knees in front of him on the bed. She thrusts her ass into the air, and then looks back at him beckoningly.

Danny gets up on the bed behind her and runs his hands over her ass, then up her back, and grabs a handful of her hair so that he can pull her up to him for a kiss. It’s hot and wet and really sloppy. He flicks his tongue in her mouth seeking out every nook and crevice. His other hand squeezes her ass again, and then he reaches around her to caress her leaking pussy. She’s so wet and ready for him that his fingers just slip in with a satisfying squelch, and she moans loudly into his mouth. His other hand releases her hair and trails down to pinch one hardened nipple, and then the other. She’s pressed herself tight against him with his erection poking her in the back.

“Dannnnnny,” she whines when he comes up for air.

He smirks to himself. “All right, baby, do you want daddy to fuck you from behind?”

“Yes! Daddy, please!”

He gently pushes her back down until she’s resting on her elbows. Then he takes his cock in his hand and guides it to her slick opening. Then he pushes in, and it feels like heaven as her tight warmth takes him in. She sighs with contentment, and pushes back, wanting to feel him go deep. He pulls out a little bit, only to dive back in, his balls slapping against her pussy lips satisfyingly. They find a rhythm that is gentle but insistent, and it’s not long before Mindy feels herself on the cusp of coming. Sensing that she’s close from the way her muscles are tightening around him, Danny reaches around her to hurry her along with his fingers. With his cock deep inside, and his fingers working their magic, Mindy soon explodes with ecstasy as her orgasm rocks her body. She wants to collapse, but Danny has her firmly by the hips and keeps pounding into her until he too is on the edge of release. And then with a final thrust he lets go and comes deep inside her.

They both collapse onto the bed, but Danny falls on his side and hauls Mindy against him so he is spooning her. They lie like that together in sweaty tangled mess of limbs until their breathing slows down and their hearts stop pounding.

“Hashtag-best-sex-ever!” Mindy exclaims breaking the silence, and laughs when Danny groans into her neck.


	6. Room 793

“Why do you have to use so much moisturizer?” he asks as he watches her get dressed. He usually has a shower, puts on some aftershave, and then gets dressed still a bit damp from where he missed himself with the towel. But she has a regime. She pats herself dry, and then puts in her contacts. Then she puts a moisturizing lotion on her face, then chooses another bottle for her arms and legs, and in the winter time she uses Vaseline on her knees and elbows. And then finally she uses another moisturizer for her feet. It takes her like ten minutes for that, and she hasn’t even put on make-up or gotten dressed yet.

“If I don’t moisturize my skin will get ashy and dry. It’s not pretty.”

“What’s ‘ashy?’”

“It’s when dark skin turns white and flaky. Like dry ash. Don’t you have any dark-skinned friends?”

“What? Of course!”

“And you’ve never heard of ashy skin before?”

“Well, maybe…I remember this one time, in junior high school, we had to dress out in gym class. And there was this skinny black kid, like the only one in our entire grade, and this other kid made fun of him for having cocoa butter in his locker. He said his mom made him take it so he didn’t have ashy knees. But I didn’t really get it. His knees looked fine to me. But I guess it’s as you said, to keep his skin from getting ashy.”

“Yeah, so that’s why I use so much moisturizer.”

“Well, I like it,” he says, reaching out to trail a fingertip down her arm. “It makes your skin nice and soft.” He kisses her shoulder. “I love the way your skin feels. It’s so smooth and clear. There isn’t a single mole or blemish on your skin, except for the scar on your back, and I love that friggin’ thing, too!” He kisses her scar, which is just this tiny thing near the bottom of her shoulder blade.

Mindy’s eyes have gone wide, and she’s looking at him confusedly. “You love…my skin?”

“Yeah, and I love your boobs, too. Even though one is slightly bigger than the other, and you have this weird nipple hair, that I know you try to cut, but it just keeps growing back.”

She elbows him in the chest. “Nuh-huh! Danny!” she exclaims exasperated. But he just laughs, and leans down to kiss her breast with its one unsightly hair.

Then he sits up and looks her deep in the eyes. “In fact, I love everything about you, Mindy.”

Her breath catches in her throat. “Wha…?” she half-breathes, half-whispers.

“I love you, Dr. Mindila Kuhel Lahiri Peerson.” He grins lopsidedly.

Panic fills her. She doesn’t know what to say. He has just put his heart on the line, but she isn’t sure how she feels about him. She loves being with him, but she is married. And so is he. She watches his face fall, but then he is covering up his disappointment with a mask. “But what about your wife…?”

“That’s all you’re going to say to me?” his voice cracks.

“Well, I mean, you’re married. I’m married. How can you be in love with me?”

“I don’t know how, or why. I just am, okay?” He says angrily. “Do you think I want to have these feelings about you? Do you think I need this complication in my life? Because I don’t. I really, really don’t. But here I am. And I’ve realized that I wouldn’t still be here if I didn’t have feelings for you—if I didn’t love you. You’re the reason why I’m here, why I’m doing this. I love you, okay?”

“Wow! I don’t know what to say. But I know I have strong feelings for you. I wouldn’t be here either, if I didn’t feel anything. If this was just sex. But I love my husband. I think. He’s a good man. And when I’m with him, I feel happy. But when I’m alone…my thoughts turn to you. I wonder when is the next time I’m going to see you again. And I don’t want to stop seeing you.”

He visibly relaxes at her words. “I don’t want to stop seeing you either.”

“Okay. Then we won’t stop seeing each other.”

“Okay.”

* * *

“I’ve got to go,” she says, slinging her purse over her shoulder, and pushing her check-only sized carry-on towards the door.

“Okay,” he replies from the bed.

She turns back to him and then sits on the bed beside him. She kisses him on the lips, and he sighs when she pulls away. “We’ll see each other again, soon, right? April 12th.”

“Yeah, April 12th.”

She leaves the room, but as soon as the door shuts closed behind her, she is overwhelmed with a sense of loss. She realizes that she has been completely stupid. The craziness she’s feeling, the longing, and the desire, and the complete happiness she feels whenever she’s with him means that she’s in love with him, and she knows she can’t leave without telling him.

She turns around and knocks on the door.

“What did you forget this time?” he asks grumpily as he opens the door.

“This,” she says, and she grabs his head and pulls him to her for a deep kiss. He responds immediately, sagging into her arms, and wrapping his arms around her waist to hold her close. “I love you, too,” she says as soon as their lips part. And he’s looking at her with a stunned, but pleased look.

“You love me?” he asks almost disbelieving.

“Yes! I do!” she exclaims. “And I was such an idiot for not saying it earlier. But I was just afraid of my feelings, and what this means for us. I’m really sorry about that.”

“What are you going to do to make it up to me?”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Take a later flight. Spend the rest of the morning with me. We can get late check out.”

“But he’s picking me up.”

“Tell him the flight was oversold and you gave up your seat to some old lady who was trying to go see her grandkids.”

“Wow! That’s a good lie.” She thinks about it for a moment, and everything inside her is telling her this is what she wants, and this is right…at least it feels right when he’s looking at her with those wide dark eyes that make her heart skip a beat. So she smiles at him. “Okay, I’ll do it!”

Danny whoops and then picks her up and drags her back into the hotel room.

She doesn’t get home until almost ten that night and has to get a taxi home.


	7. Room 486

Mindy has just finished brushing and flossing and is getting ready for bed. Danny watches her as she joins him in the bed. “What are we doing?”

“I thought we were about to go to sleep.” Mindy smiles indulgently at him, as if he has asked the silliest question in the world.

“No, I mean, really what are we doing? What is this thing between us?”

“Do we really need to define our relationship? We are just two consenting adults who enjoy spending time together. Does it need to be more than that?”

“No, I guess, not…but what if it was?”

“What do you mean, ‘what if it was?’”

“What if I left my wife for you, and you left your husband for me?”

“Are you kidding me right now? You know that’s not possible.”

“Why not? I barely even sleep with Christina anymore. She knows I’m not happy, and she can’t be happy with me either.”

“Barely? Then that means you still do sleep with her occasionally.”

“Are you jealous?”

This question gives Mindy pause. If she’s honest with herself, she is, but she shakes her head. “I have no right to be.”

“You have every right to be!” Danny explodes, frustrated with her dishonesty. “I’m jealous every time you go back to him! Are you still sleeping with him?” he asks, directly.

“That’s none of your business!” she scoffs.

“How is it none of my business whether or not the woman I love is still sleeping with her husband?”

“Because I’m married to him. I’m cheating on _him_. If anyone has a right to know anything, it’s him.”

“So why don’t you tell him about us? Just tell him. End it. Be with me instead,” he pleads. He looks at her earnestly, and she can see how serious he is, but it scares her. She is always, always scared of her feelings, and being honest with him about them.

“I can’t tell him! It would destroy him! Ruin his reputation. Do you know he’s starting to get recognized? How fast do you think it would take for the public to turn on him once they find out his philandering Indian wife has made him a cuckhold. They will start to think, ‘if he can’t even keep his own marriage together, how can he give me counsel on mine?’ No, I can’t do that to him.”

“Fine! If you don’t want to leave him, then I’ll leave. I can’t do this anymore.” Danny jumps out of bed, and grabs for his pants. He’s putting them on when Mindy gets out of bed to stop him.

“Why are you doing this, Danny? I thought things were fine the way things are.”

“Well, maybe I’m not fine with the status quo. I want more, Mindy.”

“More what? I come here to these hotels every chance I get to be with you. I lie to my husband, I delete your voice mail and texts, I have a secret credit card that my husband doesn’t know about…I do all of these things for you! What more do you want?”

“What more do I want…?” he asks incredulously, “I want _everything_ more. I want more than just a day or two with you in these fucking hotel rooms. I want to hold your hand when we’re in the elevator and not have to let it go when someone gets on. I want you in my house watching TV with me in my bed, using my toothbrush when yours is too old to use anymore, and eating the blueberry pancakes that I cook for you in the morning. I don’t want to have to sneak around and hide anymore. I want to be free to love you when I want to love you, and not just when there’s some medical conference.”

Mindy doesn’t know what to say. She wants to be with Danny, but she is so afraid of the consequences. Every time she thinks about what would happen if she told the truth, all she can see is the ruination of her marriage, her home, possibly her career, and her friendships with all the people she’s lied to in order to spend more time with Danny.

“Are you just going to stand there and say nothing?” Danny asks angrily, staring her right in the eyes. They are so full of hurt and disappointment that Mindy has to look away.

“I’m sorry…but I’m just not ready for that yet.”

“You’re…not ready?” Danny shakes his head in disbelief, then he starts to pack up his things.

“Danny, please…” Mindy tries to stop him, but he forges on ahead.

“Please, what?” he asks, zipping up his suitcase.

“I…” but she doesn’t continue. She can’t continue. She doesn’t know how to vocalize what she’s feeling, and how desperate she is at the thought of him leaving, but there’s also a part of her that thinks this is for the best. She knows that she can never leave him, but maybe it would be good for him to leave her. Then he could move on with his life, maybe figure out things with his wife, or find someone who wasn’t married and who could give him all the things that he wanted.

“That’s what I thought,” he says, picking up his bag and marching to the door. When he gets to the door he pauses, as if there was something else he wants, to say, but with a slightly imperceptible shake of his head, he opens the door and walks out of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So no sexy times in the last two chapters, but don't worry, there's more coming! ;)
> 
> I just wanted to let you know that I've written most of every chapter, but there are things that I want to add to and change a bit. Hopefully I'll be able to update every week. I think there will be 14 chapters and a epilogue.
> 
> Thanks for all the feedback!


	8. September 16, 1:53 am:  You have 1 new voicemail

_Hey, it’s me. I know I have no right to call you, but I can’t stop thinking about you. I thought I could do it. I thought I could let you walk away from me. Maybe I should. I honestly believe you’ll be better off without me, but I can’t let you go. So I’m asking—no I’m begging you to give what we have another chance. I know that it’s messy, and wrong, but I still love you and want you, and I hope that you still want me._

Danny listens to the voicemail over and over again, and he can’t bring himself to delete it. He doesn’t really feel like he needs to. He wonders if Christina would even care if she found it, that’s how great his marriage is going. And he needs to hear the sound of her voice. He doesn’t know if he can respond, though.

He knows that nothing has changed. He’s still married to his wife, and she’s still married to her husband. And as miserable as he feels, he thinks that he deserves it.

But every time he listens to it, he feels his resolve begin to break. So he hides his phone for the evening, so he can’t even look at it and be tempted to listen to it again. But the next morning he wakes up with this need to hear it again. When he reaches for the phone on his nightstand and doesn’t find it, he panics just a little until he remembers that he’d left it in his jacket pocket, which is hanging in his closet.

It’s the first thing he does. He doesn’t go to the toilet, or put on a pot of coffee like he usually does. He goes into his closet and sits on the floor to listen to her message one more time. He doesn’t know why he’s hiding; Christina is Turkey on a project for National Geographic. He feels like a teenager sneaking into his closet to look at the skin rags his friend Stevie lent to him. He is ashamed, angry with himself, and guilty, but he can’t help himself. After he listens that last time, he decides he will call her.

It’s 5:30 in the morning and he doesn’t want to seem too eager, so he makes himself go through his morning routine. He goes for a run, comes home and has a shower, brushes his teeth, then combs his hair and gets dressed, all the while thinking about what he wants to say to her. When he has finished with breakfast it’s still only 7:30, but he figures with the time difference it’s safe to call her.

He dials her number and waits with bated breath as the phone rings. But he doesn’t say anything when she answers.

“Danny? Are you there?”

“Did you butt-dial me on accident?”

More silence.

“I hope you didn’t, but even if you did, I’m glad.” She sighs wistfully. Danny wants to cry at how happy he is to hear her high-pitched voice. “I’ve missed you so much, and I want to be with you. I think about you all the time. When I’m at work, when I’m at home, on the subway…I remember every touch, every kiss, how it felt to make love to you. If you let me, I’ll show you just how much I missed you.”

“Yeah?” he finally asks, feeling unreasonably turned on by the promise in her voice.

“Yeah. Do you want me to tell you what I want to do to you?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. I kiss your mouth, and then the spot behind your ear that you like so much, and then your neck, and then your chest. I love the little hairs on your chest so I run my fingers through them as I lick my way down your stomach. You’re still in boxers so I push the down with my hands and squeeze your bottom. I follow your happy trail down, and down until my lips come in contact with your big cock.” Danny’s sudden intake of breath interrupts Mindy. “Are you touching yourself?” she asks. “I think you should.”

Danny snakes his hand down to his pants and unzips, then frees himself from his boxers so he can take his cock into his hand. “I am now.”

“Good. Now I want you to imagine that my lips are wrapped around the head of your cock and I’m sucking, licking, and gently nibbling on the end.” It’s not hard to imagine for Danny since he can remember her doing it many, many times. He breathes a little bit harder into the phone as he starts to fondle himself. “Good, that’s so good, baby. I love it when you jerk yourself off. Now keep imagining me swallowing your cock until it’s so deep in my throat I almost gag.” Danny groans. “You like that, daddy? Mmm…you taste so good. I just love the taste of your cock and your salty come. I want you to come so badly for me. Are you ready to come?”

“Not yet. I want to fuck you first.”

“I want to fuck you, too. Imagine me lying on the bed. I’m wearing those panties you bought me and nothing else. My nipples are hard, and I’m so hot and wet and ready for you. I need you to slip inside me with your big hard dick.”

“You’re so tight and wet. I just want to bury myself inside you hard and fast.”

“Do it, baby. Stick that big dick inside my tight pussy. Fuck me hard!”

“I’m going to come!” Danny moans as he feels the tension build up in his balls. He jerks his hand quickly and rhythmically up and down his cock as Mindy’s voice and dirty words brings him closer and closer to the edge. “I’m almost _there_ …keep talking to me, baby.”

“I’ve got my legs wrapped around your waist and I’m squeezing you tight with my kegels. You feel so good inside me. You’re so big, and I’m so tight, and I just feel so full of you. Full of your cock. I want to feel you come inside me. I love it when you spurt all that hot spunk inside me—”

“Sweet, Jesus, Mary and Joseph!” Danny groans as his cock erupts with his semen. “Oh, god, you made me come really hard,” he gasps when he is done.

Mindy chuckles lightly. “Glad I could help.” Then there is this awkward silence as Danny realizes he’s had a come, but he hasn’t even told Mindy what he wanted to say. He wonders if she hates him for just using her like that, but she’s too kind to say anything.

“You know, you didn’t have to do that for me,” Danny finally forces out.

“I did it because I love you, and I want to make you happy.”

“But you don’t have to make me happy with sex. I know that our relationship started out as purely sexual, but it’s more than that now. I left because I want more from you than that. You know that, right?”

“I know, Danny. And I want that too.”

“But you’re not ready to leave your husband yet, are you?”

“Not yet. But I _want_ to. I just don’t know how.”

Danny lets out a loud suspiration. “I know. And I guess I’m okay with that. For now. I just want to be with you, too,” he finally admits.

“And I want to be with you, Danny. I can come next week! How does that sound?”

“Let’s do it.” It’s the first time Danny feels relaxed in weeks.


	9. Room 4580

# Room 4580

“She cheated on me.”

“She what?”

“I found out that she was cheating on me. I came home and found her in bed with another man. He was in my fucking bed, Min!”

The irony of the situation doesn’t escape her, but she doesn’t say anything. Really, who is she to judge? And she knows that if she ever found out that Casey had cheated on her, she would be heartbroken. Even though it made her a hypocrite and she knew she was a horrible person.

“I’m sorry, Danny. She shouldn’t have done that.”

“So it’s over between us. If we were both honest with ourselves, it should have been over long ago, but now it really is.” He looks like he is just taking this fact in, and it devastates him. Mindy’s heart goes out to him and she wraps him in her arms. His head rests on her chest, and she knows he can hear her heart beating.

“It’ll be okay,” she murmurs to him gently stroking his hair.

“I don’t know what I’d do without you,” he tells her, pulling away to look up at her with gratitude shining in his eyes. “You know, you’re my best friend.”

Mindy feels shock at his words, but deep down inside she knows that it’s true, and it has been for a long time. And it scares her. “But we fight all the time.”

“And we make up.” He smiles at her, knowingly. Oh, how they have fought, but the make-up sex has always been ridiculously hot. It doesn’t seem to matter how angry they get with each other, they are always drawn back to each other.

“What are you trying to say?” But she knows what he’s going to say, and she dreads it as much as she wants it to happen as well.

“I’m saying, now is our chance. I’m getting a divorce. You should too. And then we can finally be together.”

“We are together.”

“But for real. All the time. Permanently.”

“I don’t know, Danny. It would devastate Casey.”

“Who gives a fuck about Casey?”

“I do!”

“Then why are you here with me?”

“I love you, that’s why! But that doesn’t mean I don’t care about Casey. I mean just think about how you felt when you found out Christina was cheating on you. It really hurt you and you were having an affair, too! Now imagine how you would feel if you were Casey. You believe you have a perfect life, with a perfect wife, and you’re really, really happy. Then you find out she’s been having an affair with another man for years. And then you find out she’s in love with the other man and she wants to divorce you. I just can’t do that to Casey. I thought you understood after last time!”

“When are you going to understand that lying to him doesn’t make it any better? Do you really think he doesn’t know? Do you really think he’s that oblivious that he doesn’t know that his wife is stepping out on him? That he hasn’t noticed that you respond differently to his touch? That you’re biting back my name when he makes you come? You don’t think he knows? He has to know! _I_ fucking knew. I knew that Christina was unhappy, and I couldn’t be the one to make her happy because I was happier with you. So when I found her with that other guy, I was surprised but I wasn’t shocked. I knew. Casey has to know.”

“Well, if he knows, he’s done a fine job of hiding it!”

“So that’s it? You’re just going to stay in your marriage of convenience, pretending like everything is okay, when it’s not. Because if it were okay, you wouldn’t be here with me.”

“Maybe if things between us were okay, then I wouldn’t still be married to him.”

“You think we’re the problem?”

“Maybe, I do! I think we are so completely fucked up that we don’t even know what’s right from wrong anymore. How can we deserve to have a happy ending when we’ve been hurting two people who love us. And even though Christina may have cheated on you, I’m pretty sure you cheated first. So no, I can’t throw my marriage away on a relationship that is based on us lying to our spouses and ourselves. I keep waiting for the day when you realize that what we’re doing is wrong and selfish, and we need to stop before we destroy whatever is good in us we have left.”

“Is that what you really think of me? Of us?”

Mindy is crying now, but saying what she has been feeling feels cathartic, like how she imagines Danny feels when he makes his confession to his priest. She nods because she doesn’t think she can say anything else past the lump in her throat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So they broke up again LOL Wonder how long this break up will last...
> 
> Thanks as always for the comments, kudos, and PMs on tumblr. It means so much that you like my two cheaters so much! :)


	10. Room 1490

She couldn’t believe he was there. She didn’t think she would ever see him again after their last fight. They both had said some harsh things, some hard truths, and she was pretty sure it was really the end. But there he was.

She had sent him a letter. She hadn’t written her name, or a return address. She somehow felt that if it was completely anonymous, then she wouldn’t be able to get in trouble. If someone found it, they could wonder and wonder who had sent it, but they could never find out the truth. She had just written, _I’m sorry._  No long incriminating voicemail for him to have to delete, even though there was no wife for him to have to hide it from anymore. And if his wife had happened to find it, she could think it was from an old friend he had lost touch with, or a colleague he had gotten into a fight with, and not necessarily an old lover. But she knew, or at least she hoped, that he would know who it was from and that he would appreciate her words. She tried not to hope that he would contact her. But then he had.

He looked like he’d been put through the wash and then wrung out. But he still looked so good. It was raining outside and his hair was damp. He had a beard and his hair was longer, too. It curled at the ends. She wanted to reach out and run her fingers through the damp curls, but she didn’t think she was allowed to. Not anymore. So she filled the silence with inane chatter. He responded sullenly, briskly, sometimes with just one word. She began to wonder why he had even come, if he was just going to brood at her. It made her really sad to think of what they had once had, but had now apparently lost. But then he asked her if she still loved him. And she thought of all the miserable weeks she had had since the last time she saw him, how it had been hard to think, and work, and even breathe without him, believing that he hated her. She had once thought that love was supposed to give you wings, and lift you above all the petty things in life, but now she knew the truth, that love made you terrible, do terrible things, and think terrible thoughts, and feel terrible emotions, and she knew that she felt all those things for Danny, and they didn’t seem to be able to go away. She wondered if it was the same for him.

So she told him she loved him. She still loved him. And he nodded, and seemed satisfied. But would he give her the same satisfaction, the same relief that even after everything they had said and done, he still loved her? She knew she didn’t deserve it, but she still wanted it, to know that she still had a hold over him. There was a moment when she looked at him; his eyes were dark pools of desire, and he approached her slowly, carefully. He reached out a hand to touch her face, and she closed her eyes and leaned into the caress. It felt like she was finally home again. Then she felt his lips press against hers, and she knew even though he hadn’t said it that he still loved her and wanted to be with her. Their kiss began to escalate, she had her hands in his hair, and his hands had moved down to her waist, pulling her closer, tighter. She moaned into his mouth, and she could feel his heat pressed against her. It was instantaneous, this need between them, just as it was from the start, and she was glad that it hadn’t changed after all this time. It was the one constant through everything they had been through, and maybe it was all they needed.

His hand slipped underneath the hem of her sweater to touch the soft skin on her belly, and she felt the heat and wetness begin to pool between her legs. Then suddenly her phone began to ring. As “Locked Out of Heaven” began to play, Danny stiffened and pulled away. It was her husband. He knew it was him because he recognized the ringtone. Mindy was stricken, she would have ignored the call except for the way that Danny was looking at her reminded her that they still had this huge gaping issue in the middle of their relationship; she was still married to her husband. And even though they may have forgotten it in the rush of their lust-induced haze, it was still there hanging between them.

Danny didn’t say anything but she knew that he was waiting for her to make a decision. She could either ignore the call, or she could answer it, and then he would know what her choice was. Mindy was beset with indecision. Did she really want to give up Danny, when he had just come to her and laid his heart on the line once again? She knew that she didn’t want to hurt him anymore than she had. Hurting him was the last thing she wanted to do. But the phone kept ringing, and she suddenly felt worried. Why was Casey calling her now? It was unusual for him to call her this late. What if it was something important? What if he was hurt or in the hospital?

Danny took her indecision to mean that she had made her choice and it wasn’t him. So he backed away from her, his face a stone mask. Mindy shook her head and reached out a hand to try to stop him, but it was futile. He was out of the door in a matter of moments. Then the phone stopped ringing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote half is this chapter a while ago, and it probably wasn't even necessary, as it brings no movement to their story, but I kind of like it stylistically, and I think it's kind of realistic that sometimes relationships get in a rut (in this case both Danny/Mindy and Mindy/Casey), where they can't move forward, but they're just not ready to let go yet. So sorry if this chapter is boring, but I think I can make it up to you in the next few chapters.


	11. Room 679

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's Day!
> 
> It feels weird for me to write about a couple that I'm angst-free about. They are in love and they're going to have a baby and I don't have to write about what I want to see happen on the show because I'm getting everything I could ever want from the show already. But it's been an interesting experience writing them as so much messier than they are on the show. 
> 
> As always thank you for taking the time to read this and your comments, likes and kudos give me life!

“You were amazing,” he says to her when she comes out of the operating room.

To say she is shocked would be an understatement. He had been so hurt the last time they saw each other, and nothing had changed since then. And here he is, addressing her out in the open. It’s the first time they had ever had contact in public since the first time they met because they never wanted to risk their colleagues finding out about them. Mindy knows Peter suspects that there is some other reason she enjoys going to medical conferences so much from some of his ribald comments, but he doesn’t know who.

Mindy glances around her nervously, but the other doctors are occupied talking to each other. Even though she is still afraid to be seen together, she is also thrilled, exhilarated to see him out in the open. In front of her colleagues, no less. She tells herself that there is nothing inappropriate about the way she smiles back at him, and no one would think anything about two colleagues talking to each other about a surgery.

“You have always been the best surgeon. Not only do you save these women’s lives, but you manage to save their fallopian tubes, too. You must feel really proud. And I feel honored that I was finally able to watch you in action.”

“Thank you, Dr. Castellano.” His smile disappears slightly at her formal address, but she carries on, “By the way, what are you doing here?” she whispers.

“I was invited by Dr. Shulman. He was interested in my research, and wanted to talk about collaborating on another project here in New York.”

“Would that mean you would be working here more often?” she asks cautiously hopeful.

“I would still have my regular practice in L.A., but I would be coming out here regularly, if that was agreeable to you.”

“What do you need my permission for? This is about your career, not me.”

“Can I speak to you in private?” he implores.

She nods, and glances at a supply closet just across the hall. They walk over to the door, he looks around, doesn’t see anyone milling around and pulls her into the closet.

“I agreed to come here because I had to see you. I thought I could get over you, but I can’t. I have to have you in my life, and I know you’re not ready now, but I hope you will be some day. And in the mean time I want to be with you as much as I can, whenever I can, anyway I can, even if it’s in secret. So you are the main reason I’m here. When Dr. Schulman’s offer fell in my lap, I just had to take it. What do you say?”

“Are you staying at our regular hotel?” He nods. “Text me your room number and I’ll meet you there.”

* * *

They had made love all afternoon. It was made special this time by the fact that it had been so long since the last time, and they were both feeling so hopeful, that maybe this time it would work out between them. She holds him tenderly to her breasts, and he has his arms around her so tight at times that she doesn’t think she’ll be able to breath, but then she remembers the breathlessness she had felt in his absence and she doesn’t want him to let her go ever.

“Do you know how much I missed you?” Mindy asks him, stroking his hair gently.

“Not as much as I missed you,” he replies with a kiss to her lips.

“No, Danny, I really missed you. I missed you so much. And every moment I’m with Casey reminds me of how different we are. We’ve grown into two separate people from who we were when we were young. And who we are now, I don’t think we’re really compatible. I’m not sure we were ever compatible, or I wouldn’t be so drawn to you.”

“What are you saying, Mindy?”

“I don’t know what I’m saying exactly. Except…please don’t give up on me. I know that things can’t continue on the way they have, but it doesn’t mean things won’t change. Can you be patient with me?”

“Of course, I can wait. I wouldn’t be here if I couldn’t. I love you, and I’ll wait a hundred years for you, if I have to.”

Tears spill from Mindy’s eyes. “You are too good for me. I don’t deserve you. What did I ever do to deserve you in my life?”

“Please don’t cry. You know I hate it when you cry.” He grasps her face between both of his hands and runs his thumbs along the trickle of water staining her face. He kisses her eyes one by one, then her nose, then her lips. He slips his tongue into her mouth and rubs gently against her own. She runs her hands across his shoulders and down his back, and presses him closer until his hardness is flush against her heat. She wants him again, is ready for him, so she snakes a hand around his waist and takes him into her palm until he is hard again. His eyes are closed and he groans as he rubs against her hand, then he opens his eyes when he feels her positioning is manhood at her entrance. His eyes lock with hers, and in her gaze he sees all of the love and desire he needs from her. He doesn’t need marriage, he had that and it didn’t work out. He doesn’t need a house and kids and a dog. All he needs is her, the feel of her squeezing him as he pushes himself inside her. She is like a fountain, wet and slippery, and one taste of her is not enough to quench his thirst. He rocks into her, gently at first, but then harder and faster as he is overwhelmed with the need to claim her. She meets him thrust for thrust and soon they are both climaxing. He goes over the edge first, but he uses his fingers to stimulate her clit and soon she is shuddering around his cock. When he pulls out he feels sated and spent, and she is no longer crying.


	12. Room 782

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to hell for this one. Let me know what you think.

“Danny, Danny, wait…” He’s kissing her, he’s got her panties off, and he’s fiddling with the fastener of his trousers.

“What is it, Min?”

“I think you should put on a condom.”

Danny pulls back abruptly. “What?” They had been doing it without a condom for years, and he wasn’t against using one, but he really liked it when he didn’t have to.

“I…umm…I’m not on birth control anymore, so we have to use a condom.”

“Why not, what happened? Is it your blood pressure? I know you were worried about it, but I think if you tried a progesterone-only birth control you wouldn’t have to worry about that.”

She smiled wanly at his words. One of the things that she liked about talking with him was that he was a doctor, too, and they could talk about things like birth control without embarrassment. “No, it’s not that.”

“Then what is it?” he asked worriedly.

She let out a breath of air, and her smile disappeared. What she was about to say wouldn’t be easy to talk about. “Casey wants to start trying to get pregnant, so I went off the pill.”

Danny backs away from her, and pierces her with a disbelieving stare. Mindy looks away from him, and starts to straighten up her clothing. When she looks back at him, he is still staring at her in open-mouthed amazement. “You’re trying to get pregnant with your husband?”

Mindy bites her lip and nods.

“And I’m just supposed to what, put a condom on and let some other man get you pregnant? And then not see you for nine months, or a year while you’re on maternity leave?”

“Well, you know what the chances are for a woman of my age and with my health risks are for getting pregnant. There’s a chance nothing will happen, and nothing will change.”

“Not that much of a chance! Mindy, what are you doing?? You can’t try to have a baby with your husband, and be with me. You can’t have your cake and eat it too.”

“I’m not trying to do that. I’m just trying to make my husband happy, and keep you in my life. And I’m not going to get any younger, so if I want kids, I can’t wait until we get this whole thing,” she waves vaguely between the two of them, “figured out.”

“Mindy, do you even hear yourself? You don’t want to figure things out between us, but you want to bring a child into this world? Do you really think that’s a good idea? Are you going to start bringing her with you when we meet for our little trysts? Are you going to introduce me as her uncle?”

“I don’t know! I don’t have all the answers! I’m just trying to do the right thing, and be a good little preacher’s wife, who supports him, and gives him the children that he wants.”

“Do you even want kids?”

“I always thought I did. And now I feel like even if I can’t get things right with my husband, or you, at least I can have a baby to love, and who will love me unconditionally no matter how fucked up I am.”

“Mindy, you can’t have kids for those reasons. You should have kids with the man you love, when it’s something you both want, and it’s the right time. Think about your career. If you take time off now to have a baby, you might not be able to get back into it as easily as you want to.”

“I’ll work until I go into labor, and since I’ll probably be at the hospital anyway, that shouldn’t be a problem. And then I’ll take off six weeks max, and hire a nanny to help out.”

“Okay, then, since you’ve got your career all figured out, what about the man you love part?”

“Well, I love you....”

“I know you love me. You wouldn’t even be here with me, if that weren’t true. So why are you still with your husband?”

“I don’t want anyone to know what a crappy wife I am.”

“So you’d rather _be_ a crappy wife, than be honest?”

“I only promised Casey we’d try, but chances are—”

“You’ve made a lot of promises to Casey that you’ve broken. Like how you would be honest with him and never forsake him. But that never stopped you before, so why let it stop you now?”

“What are you implying?”

“You’re right, chances are you wouldn’t get pregnant from just one time.”

“So you’re okay with me trying to get pregnant?”

“No, I’m not okay with that. I’m not okay with any of this situation, but I’ve come to accept that it is what it is. We’ve gone through this a thousand times before, and I’m not going anywhere. So let’s just pretend. Let’s pretend, just this once, that you’re married to me and I’m your husband, and you want to have children with me.” His look is pleading, and he is close to her now, almost touching. He reaches out to caress her cheek with one hand, and his other hand wraps around her waist to draw her close, and then reach down to grab her ass. She is still wet from their earlier foreplay, and she can feel the heat returning to her core, causing moisture to spread down her thighs. No one can do this to her like he can. He has always had the power to convince her to do whatever it was he wanted, except leave her husband, but she wanted to do that, she just didn’t think she could. But she could give him this, this one time.

As if he can sense his victory, he dives in and captures her mouth with his own. He spreads her thighs, and she is surprised at how quickly he has become hard again. But the thought of him getting her pregnant has her slippery and needy, and she can’t wait to feel him inside her. She doesn’t have to wait very long before he has buried himself inside her, and is pumping away with abandon. She wraps her legs around his waist and moves against him, loving the friction of him, and his hot breaths in her ear, and how he squeezes her ass.

“I’m close, baby,” he pants. “Do you want me to come inside you? Do you want me to get you pregnant?”

And somehow just his words in her ear gets her off and she comes apart in his arms. But he’s not there quite yet. She knows he needs to hear the words from her, or he won’t do it. For a moment she is indecisive, but then she gives in to her base desires, and she realizes that this is what she really wants. Fuck Casey and his congregation and what society thinks. She loves Danny and she wants to have his child. So she says it. “Yes, Danny! I want you to come in me. I want you to give me a baby. _You’re_ baby.” And her words have the same effect on him that his had had on her, and he ejaculates instantaneously, shooting his seed deep inside her womb.


	13. Apartment 8B

She had never felt sicker in her life. Not even that time when she had gone to a frat party with Peter and drank 13 shots of tequila and had to have her stomach pumped due to alcohol poisoning. She’d felt like crap for a whole day, but then had finally started to feel better. But now it was a continuous thing. She had no idea why it was called morning sickness. She may wake up feeling fine, but then suddenly she would be sick, and it was morning, afternoon, or at night. She had decided that getting on a plane probably wasn’t the best idea in her condition, and so had canceled her business trip. She also thought it might be better not to see Danny, since she didn’t know how to tell him.

Turned out, she needn’t have worried about that. He had figured it out on his own.

She had just wiped her face and brushed her teeth after another bout with the porcelain throne, when she heard a knock on the door. “Fucking hell, Danny. How did you find my apartment?” she asked, opening the door.

“Why did you cancel your trip?” he demanded, not even allowing her to finish opening the door for him, and just barging in.

“You can’t be here! What if Casey was here!”

“Don’t worry, I waited and made sure he had left the building before I came in.”

“You need to go! You—” but she could feel bile rising up in her throat, and had to dash to the toilet.

He followed her, and held her hair back for her as she emptied what little was left in her stomach, gently rubbing her back comfortingly as she continued to dry heave.

When she was finished, she sat back weakly against the wall, and he stood up to find a washcloth. Spying one on the towel rack next to the sink, he grabbed it, rinsed it with cool water and then returned to crouch down next to her and gently wipe down her forehead. “So you’re pregnant, I see.”

“I could just be hungover after a wild night with my besties,” she quipped.

“But you’re not hungover, are you?”

“No,” she admitted, shaking her head, “I’m not.”

“Am I…the father?”

“I’m not sure. It’s possible. It fits the timeline…but it could also be Casey’s.”

“So were you ever going to tell me?”

“Of course I was going to tell you!”

“But only after the baby was born?”

“No! I wanted to tell you as soon as I found out! I wished that it was you I was married to, and we were looking forward to doing this together.”

“You want to be married to me? Not Casey?”

“Yeah, I guess I finally had a moment of clarity. I’m not happy in my marriage anymore. I haven’t been in a long time. And you were right about me getting pregnant. I shouldn’t have done it like this. I’ve messed this all up.”

“No, it’s okay, we can make this all right. I don’t care if the baby isn’t mine. You can get a divorce and then we can get married and raise our baby together.”

“But you don’t understand. Casey thinks the baby is his. And he will never give me a divorce now.”

“You don’t think he’ll divorce you when he finds out you’ve been having an affair with another man for years, and might be having his baby?”

“Oh, I’m sure he’ll want to divorce me. But then he’ll tell me that he doesn’t want his child growing up in a broken home, and to be Christian is to forgive.”

“But you just told me that you don’t love him anymore and you want to marry me.”

“Since when has anything been about what I want? I wanted to be in a stable, happy marriage, and then you came along with your flirtatious eyelashes, and your come hither looks, and then I got so confused I didn’t know what was up or down or standing still anymore. If I had never met you I never would have cheated on my husband. I wouldn’t be in this situation where I don’t know who my baby’s daddy is like I’m on some fucking soap opera, or an episode of Maury.”

“You can’t blame this all on me! Do you think I want to be in love with a woman that I can’t have? That I have to share with another man for her time, and her affection, and always end up on the losing side of the equation? Do you think I wanted my first child to might not even be mine? And if somehow this child is mine, do you think I want to share him, too? For him to not even know who I am? To have to see him whenever you can get free from your husband, and basically become the kind of absentee father that my own old man was? Do you really think THIS IS WHAT I WANTED?”

“I think you should go.”

“If I walk out of this door, you are never seeing me again. Do you hear me?”

“I just want you to go, right now! I can’t do this anymore, Danny! Just go! Leave!”

“If that’s the way you want it, then fine! I’m gone and you’ll never hear from me again.” He barged out the door, sending it slamming into the doorframe with a loud bang.

As terrible as Mindy had felt before, now she felt even worse. She began to sob in earnest, mourning the loss of her lover and best friend. Positive that this time she had really ruined their relationship for good, and all she had to look forward to was having a baby with a man she no longer loved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whose baby is it, hmm...? We'll find out next chapter.


	14. Room 3002

Mindy sees Danny across the room at another medical conference, but she can’t catch his eye. She’s pretty sure he’s avoiding her, and she can’t really blame him. But she knows she has to tell him. She should have told him as soon as she found out, but she felt that it was probably the kind of news best done in person. But getting someone who is mad at you, and possibly hates you, to talk to you is easier said than done, and every day that she hasn’t told him makes it harder and harder for her to find the words.

But she finally manages to corner him as he is coming out of the restroom. It’s not her best moment, and she’s sure if anyone had been paying attention they would have thought she was stalking him, and she kind of was. “We need to talk.”

“I have nothing to say to you, and I’m pretty sure you’ve said everything there is to say about it. You love me, but you don’t want to divorce your husband, or you can’t, or whatever excuse you tell yourself to make it so we can’t be together.”

“I’m getting a divorce. We separated six months ago, and I filed the paperwork as soon as I could. Casey is fighting me on it, of course, but it’s going to happen. I just have to let my lawyers get it sorted out.”

“You—you’re getting a divorce?” he asks, nonplussed.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t understand, you made it quite clear that you were never leaving your husband.”

“I had a change of heart.”

“I don’t understand. We talked about this for years, and you never budged. Why all of sudden now?”

“Can we go somewhere private?”

“Why does it matter? It’s not like you’re worried about your husband anymore. Or are you?”

“It’s not that, it’s just that what I have to say is very personal, and I don’t want complete strangers listening in on our conversation. Is that okay?”

“Okay, okay. Let’s go to my room.”

He ushers her to the elevator, and a pang goes through her because his hand doesn’t touch her back anymore.

They don’t say anything until they reach his room. Danny is bristling with impatient energy. “You wanted some privacy, now you got it. What is it you want to tell me?”

Mindy pulls out her phone and pulls up a picture. She shows it to Danny. “This is…” she falters momentarily, but then continues, “ _your_ daughter. She was born on October 17 th. 7 lbs 12 oz. 21 inches long. I named her Calliope Daniella, but I call her Callie.”

Danny is stunned into silence. His mouth opens and closes, but no sound comes out. He just stares at the picture that lights up the screen. She is olive skinned with dark eyes and dark hair that curls up at the end. He wonders for a moment if she gets that from him, but then he starts to feel skeptical because other than that little detail, she looks like a little Mindy and he’s not sure who the father is. Even though he knows the idiosyncrasies of genetics, he doesn’t want to believe that this child is his daughter. The odds were not in his favor. And he doesn’t want anything more to tie him to this woman who has broken his heart over and over again. He thought he was done with her, and now this?

“How do you know she’s mine?” Danny finally asks.

Mindy momentarily balks, but she was expecting this kind of reaction. “After she was born I took one look at her and I knew that she was yours. So I told Casey. I finally confessed everything to him—about our affair, that I was in love with you, and that I didn’t want to stay married anymore. At first he didn’t believe me, but then he demanded a paternity test, so I got one. The results are conclusive. He is not her father.”

“Even if he isn’t, how do I know she’s _mine_?” Danny bites out.

Mindy blanches at the intimation that there could have been any other candidate. But she understands why he is so angry. “You are the only other man I’ve slept with,” she responds easily. “But if you don’t want to believe me, feel free to get another DNA test.”

Danny frowns, but doesn’t say anything else for a long while. His eyes search hers, as if looking for the truth, as if he can see in their depths whether or not she is trying to trick him, or hurt him further. He just can’t believe what his ears are hearing. He is a father. He has a daughter. And her mother is Mindy, the woman he had spent years loving, and the past eleven months, three days, and 21 hours trying to forget.

Mindy’s face is full of remorse, and sadness, and compassion, and possibly hope. Just looking at her reminds him of all the feelings he once had for her. He had once been filled with an overwhelming desire to be with her, to touch her, to hold her, to make her moan in his arms, and laugh at his bad jokes, comfort her when she was sad, and insanely he had even loved arguing with her. But now, he still can’t get over how he had put his heart on the line for her over and over again, and she had always seemingly chosen her husband, and broke his heart and his trust. Even so, he believes her when she said he was the father. He had only said that he didn't to hurt her, but her calm response has relieved some of his ire.

Eventually his brooding gets to her and Mindy is compelled to break the silence. “I just thought I should tell you the truth so that you would know about your daughter. But what you want to do with that information is up to you. I don’t expect you to drop everything and be her dad. I am totally prepared and capable to take care of her on my own. But you can have as much or as little to do with her as you want. And the same goes for me.”

“What do you want me to say?” Danny finally asks.

Mindy takes a deep breath. “If I’m honest, I still love you Danny. I always wanted to be with you, but I kept getting in my own way—” her voice breaks, and he can see she is in tears. “In _our_ way,” she continues brokenly, “and it was incredibly selfish of me. But something changed when I got pregnant. I already loved our baby so much, and I was forced to think about how my decisions affected her. And I realized that staying in a loveless marriage wouldn’t be good for her. If it was just me, I might have felt that I could stay tied to the first man I ever loved forever because I felt that I owed it to him. But for her, I finally understood that obligation doesn’t mean love, and staying in a relationship without love won’t ever make me happy. And if I’m not happy, then my baby could be negatively affected. And the person that I truly, deeply love is you, Danny. I love you, and I want us to be a family together. I think us being together will be what’s best for everybody, but especially our daughter. Do you still love me?” Mindy asks plaintively.

Danny is just as shocked by this proclamation as he was with the news that he was a father. How long had he waited to hear those words from her? To hear that she is finally ready to leave her husband and start a family with him? Too long. But now that she had finally come to the place where they could be together completely, he isn’t sure he can reciprocate. Now when he looks at her he sees the woman who broke his heart.

 “Danny, say something, please,” Mindy cries out.

Danny sighs, and rubs his forehead. He shakes his head as if to clear it, and then he looks up at her again directly in the eyes. “I don’t know, Mindy. I don’t know if I can be a part of your life, or your daughter’s life,” he sees her flinch at his word choice, “but I know that you hurt me. You hurt me more than anyone in my entire life, and I had a pretty shitty dad, and a terrible marriage, so that’s saying a lot. And I know not all of it was your fault, but I don’t think I can trust you anymore, or trust myself. And one thing my dad has taught me is that people can make it without having a dad in their life, and if you really want what’s best for your baby, then maybe that’s your answer. So, no, I don’t think I love  you anymore.” He exhales, and is surprised to feel a sense of relief in his chest. He isn’t so much of a jerk that he is happy to have caused her pain, but he feels freer somehow. He has been honest with her, and now he can let go all of his pain, and hurt, and anger, and really move on. With this realization he feels compassion for her, so he pulls her into his arms and hugs her. She wipes her face with his shirt, and he rubs her shoulders consolingly. Then he pulls away. And he feels as if it will be for the last time.

“I hope you find happiness, Mindy. Even after everything I don’t hate you. And I hope you won’t hate me either.”

Mindy shakes her head. “I don’t hate you. I couldn’t. It’s myself I hate.”

“There’s no need for that. You love yourself, and you love your baby, and you’ll be just fine. I’ll be okay, too.”

Mindy nods in acceptance. “I hope so.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end.
> 
> I've been holding on to this thing for a while for multiple reasons, but one is because I feel bad about the way it ends. However, I had already decided how I wanted this to end when I first started writing. I always felt there couldn't be a happy ending for this dysfunctional couple because unlike their TV counterparts, they just do not know how to communicate, or be honest with themselves. Also, this is the first multi-chapter fic I've finished in over 10 years, so I wasn't sure if I wanted it to end.
> 
> Thanks to everyone who liked, reblogged, left messages in my inbox, or left kudos and comments. I really appreciate all of the support. And thanks so much for being so patient with me! Let's hope The Mindy Project comes back for a fourth season, so we can see how great Mindy and Danny would really be as parents!
> 
> Do you want an epilogue? Or are you afraid I'll just make things worse? ^_*


	15. Epilogue

“Daddy? Oh, goddess. You really will cry at the drop of a hat.”

“Well, it’s not every day that a man gets to see his daughter get married,” Danny says, smiling through his tears. He takes her hand, and continues, “You know, I’ve been dreaming of this day from the moment I heard of your existence. And even though I wasn’t there for you from the beginning, it wasn’t because I didn’t love you. I just thought you would be better off without me. And I still think you might be better off without me, but I would not be better off without you.”

Callie squeezes his hand back, as tears well up in her eyes. “And now, you’re going to make _me_ cry.” She laughs.

Danny wipes away her tears with his thumb, careful not to smudge her make up. “And I also wanted to let you know, that even though I felt a little bit weird at first because I always imagined a traditional Catholic wedding, I like that you’re giving yourselves away. For one, you’re not my possession, and two: there’s no way I could ever give you away. You’re stuck with me for life.”

“Thanks, dad.”

“Sorry to interrupt,” the wedding planner says, “but I need everyone to take their places. Parents, please stand here.”

Danny kisses Callie quickly on the cheek and smiles at them both when her bride-to-be joins her, then moves to stand beside Mindy. She has her arm linked with her husband, and offers her other hand to Danny, which he takes.

“Shall we?” Mindy asks, smiling up at him.

Danny squeezes her hand back and nods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's really, really the end this time. And a lot of you called it! There was absolutely no way Danny was not going to be a part of his daughter's life. After he was able to get over his anger and his disillusionment that he would not be able to have the happy ending that he wanted with he and Mindy married with a baby in a house somewhere with a dog, etc. etc. he realized that he could still have a happy ending with his daughter, it just wasn't necessarily the way he pictured it. 
> 
> Thanks for all of the great feedback about the ending. I'm sorry if I broke some of my readers' trust, but it certainly wasn't intentional. I feel like I've been fairly consistent in telling a story about two damaged people who could never get their shit together to be together, but in the end they could possibly do it apart. I suppose it could have been possible to have them get together, but that would only have been after they had learned to become their best selves apart from each other. But that would have taken another 14 chapters at least I think lol And that just wasn't the story I intended to write. And even though I love my two cheaters and still think they both deserve happiness, I could not see how they could be "redeemed" by getting together. That feels too much like rewarding them for bad behavior, so I couldn't do that. If anyone else wants to write that story, though, please feel free.
> 
> For those of you still interested in my stories, I'm sure I'll write more Mindy/Danny fanfic. There will be a long hiatus until TMP comes back in the fall, (I won't even consider the other possibility), and there needs to be more hot pregnancy sex!
> 
> Thanks again to everyone who has liked, reblogged, commented, left kudos or sent me messages. I really appreciate them all!


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